Sea mouse

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Sea mouse
Aphrodita aculeata (Sea mouse) .jpg

Sea mouse ( Aphrodita aculeata )

Systematics
Class : Polychaete (Polychaeta)
Order : Phyllodocida
Subordination : Aphroditoidea
Family : Aphroditidae
Genre : Aphrodita
Type : Sea mouse
Scientific name
Aphrodita aculeata
Carl von Linné , 1761

The sea ​​mouse ( Aphrodita aculeata ) is a particularly conspicuous representative of the multi-bristled annelid worms , which predatory feeds on other multi- bristle worms . It belongs to the scale worms .

In 2007 it was “worm of the year”. Its bristle dress, shimmering in all colors of the rainbow, serves physicists as a model for new types of fiber optic cables.

description

The body of the sea mouse is oval and up to 20 cm long (then 40 segments). The back and the flanks are densely covered with bristles, the side bristles are iridescent. The ventral side is flattened and brown-yellow in color.

distribution

The sea mouse is found exclusively in the northern hemisphere in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea as well as the Belts and the Øresund in the transition to the southern Baltic Sea. It usually lives in muddy ground, sublittoral to 1000 m depth.

nutrition

Aphrodita aculeata is a carnivore that feeds on other polychaetes, but also partly on cordworms and small decapods - including young hermit crabs . In their intestines, among other things, the remains of poly bristles of the genera Pectinaria , Lumbriconereis and the families Polynoidae and Nereidae were found. The preferred food includes bristle worms of the Sabellidae and Terebellidae families . The captured polychaets can be significantly longer than the predatory polychaet: Aphrodita aculeata also eats adult Nereis virens . In laboratory tests, sea mice without a sand substrate or those on the sand surface did not accept bristle worms offered, while they willingly ate them if the predators were buried in the sand.

etymology

The sea mouse owes its name to Scandinavian sailors, who were reminded of female genitals by the shape of the animals. They applied their slang term for it to these hairy worms. When Carl von Linné described them scientifically in 1758 , he continued this tradition in a somewhat more hidden form and named the animals after Aphrodite , the Greek goddess of love .

Individual evidence

  1. Aphrodita aculeata at ITIS (English, accessed on February 6, 2010)
  2. Worm of the Year - The Sea Mouse at www.wattenmeer-nationalpark.de ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 25, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wattenmeer-nationalpark.de
  3. F. Grotelüschen: Improve data transmission with the sea mouse. In: Berliner Zeitung of January 10, 2001
  4. Harvey Tyler-Walters, Joelene Hughes: Aphrodita aculeata. Sea mouse. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programs , Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2007, Online  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / ukmpas.org  
  5. Aphrodita aculeata at Marine Species Identification Portal (accessed November 25, 2009)
  6. C. Mettam (1980): On the feeding habits of Aphrodita aculeata and commensal polynoids. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 60 (3), pp. 833-834.

Web links

Commons : Sea mouse  - collection of images, videos and audio files